Around the Farm: August 30

Around the Farm takes a quick look at some of yesterday's performances by Indians prospects throughout the system. The positions listed below are where the player was playing in yesterday's game.

Jason Knapp-SP, Lake County: 3 1/3 IP, 7 H, 4 R (3 ER), 8 K, 2 BB.

A strange stat line for Knapp, as he was both hittable and unhittable at the same time. Of the 10 outs he recorded, 8 were via the strikeout. But of the 19 batters he faced, 7 got hits and 2 reached via the walk. Of the 7 hits, 5 were listed in the recap as "ground balls" including an infield single, so it doesn't exactly sound as though he was lit up. One of the runs that scored was due to a Knapp wild pitch, and another was an inherited runner scoring via error. More important are the 8 K, showing that Knapp is indeed capable of dominating hitters at this stage of his rehab.

Nick Hagadone-RP, Akron: 2 1/3 IP, 2 H, 2 K, BB.

Hagadone has now thrown 20 2/3's innings of relief for the Aeros, and he has posted a 2.61 ERA as an RP. In his 26 innings as a starter in AA, he was at 5.19. The surprising stat is that he has just 16 K as an RP as opposed to 26 as a starter. Conventional wisdom would suggest that his stuff would play up in shorter outings and he would post a higher K rate as a reliever. His walk rate has declined as a RP, but only slightly (13 as an RP, 18 as an SP). His groundball rate has fallen, flyball rate has risen, and as a result his FIP is nearly identical. I'll be honest...I'm not sure what all this means at this point, and could be put down to small sample sizes. But it bears monitoring, to say the least.

• Aaron Laffey-RP, Columbus: 1 1/3 IP, 2 H, 2 K, BB. Laffey now with a 4.13 ERA and 12 K in 24 IP for the Clips.
• Vinnie Pestano-RP, Columbus: S, IP, K. Pestano's 13th save and his 8th consecutive scoreless appearance.
• Josh Rodriguez-SS, Columbus: 2-4, HR (12), 2 RBI, R. Rodriguez now has 12 HR in 293 AAA at bats. He has cooled off in August, hitting just .198 with a .607 OPS for the month.
• Wes Hodges-1B, Columbus: 2-5, HR (13), 2 RBI, R, 2 K. Hodges with 3 HR in his last 8 games...but also 11 K.
• Jordan Henry-OF, Akron: 3-5, 3B, 2B, R, 2 K. Getting on base, but not hitting for much power (0 HR). Henry is at .297/.385/.357 for Akron this year.
• Chris Kersten-OF, Lake County: 2-4, HR (13), 2B, 4 RBI, 2 R, K. Kersten now with hits in 4 in a row and 6 of his last 7 for the Captians.
• Tyler Holt-OF, Lake County: 2-4, BB, K, SB, CS. Holt just keeps on hitting, and is up to .296 on the season. In his last 10, he's at .371/.477/.571 with 7 doubles.
• Mike Rayl-SP, Mahoning Valley: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 R (1 ER), 8 K, BB. The 15th round pick in 2009 has a 2.81 ERA for the Scrappers, and has really come on in August. In 6 starts this month, Rayl is 2-0 with a 2.43 ERA and 36 K in 29 2/3 IP.
• Gio Urshela-3B, Mahoning Valley: 1-4, R, 2 K. Urshela had one of the Scrappers 3 hits yesterday.

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